The present invention relates generally to edge card connectors, and more particularly to an edge card connector which has a plurality of generally U-shaped contacts and having a rotatable latch/eject member which, in one position, retains the edge card in place within the connector and, in another position, partially ejects the edge card from the connector.
Many electrical circuits, especially those used in the computer arts, are presently formed on one or more surfaces or levels of circuit boards, or similar substrates, to form separate circuits which may be added to computers or other electronic devices after initial manufacture thereof to improve the performance thereof. Whether such circuits are added during the initial manufacture or afterwards, these separate circuit boards must be reliably connected to the main computer printed circuit board, commonly referred to in the art as a "mother" board. The separate printed circuit boards are commonly referred to as "daughter" boards.
Connectors have been developed in the computer art which are designed for permanent installation on the mother board. These connectors contain a means for receiving the daughter board, such as a slot, to provide a connection between the mother board circuitry and the daughter board additional circuitry. These daughter boards are also descriptively referred to as "edge cards" because one side, or edge, of the card contains a plurality of relatively wide contact portions known as contact pads. The edge of the circuit card typically contains a plurality of these contact pads disposed thereon which extend laterally along one edge. One or both of sides of the edge card may contain such contact pads. This edge containing the contact pads is inserted into a slot of the connector which typically includes a number of electrical contact portions which may be similarly disposed along one or more sides of the connector slot in a manner to oppose the edge card contact pads. The connector contacts may typically include a tail portion, which projects from the connector for interconnection to the circuitry of the mother board positioned beneath or adjacent the connector. These ends are connected to the mother board by suitable means such as soldering to form an electrically conductive connection between the mother board and the edge card connector. Each connector contact further includes an edge card contact portion which is arranged within the card slot in a manner to abuttingly contact the edge card contact pads to provide an electrical connection between the edge card and the mother board.
Edge card connectors are well known in the art. In many of these edge card connectors, the connector may include either an edge card latching apparatus which holds the edge card in place within the connector after insertion thereof, or it may include an edge card extraction or ejection apparatus which permits a user to eject the edge card from the connector card slot. Such connectors are appropriately described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,097, issued Feb. 5, 1991 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,800 issued Dec. 24, 1991.
These type of edge card connector suffer from certain disadvantages. For example, the apparatus described in the aforementioned patents require their operative members to be oriented in a certain position, such as an open position before an edge card may be inserted into the connector card slot without interference from the latch or eject apparatus. Such a construction would not permit efficient automated assembly of mother boards using such connectors in that all connectors would need to be inspected to verify their operative positions prior to insertion of an edge card.
Accordingly, a need exists for an edge card connector having a reliable latch/eject mechanism operatively disposed within a portion of the connector housing whereby the latch/eject mechanism communicates with the connector card slot and which mechanism permits insertion of an edge card therein regardless of the orientation of the mechanism, and which mechanism will reliably retain the edge card in place within the card slot after insertion.